麻豆约拍

Good Morning. 聽
Whenever election fever鈥檚 in the air, my mind goes back a university finals paper in the Philosophy of Religion. 鈥溾�楾o pray is a political act.鈥� Discuss.鈥滻t鈥檚 intrigued me ever since. 聽If, for example, we see prayer as a spiritual attempt to make sure a certain party comes out trumps, then we鈥檙e pathetically trying to manipulate forces larger than ourselves and we don鈥檛 understand the purpose of prayer which is fundamentally about deepening our relationship with the divine presence within. 聽But if, in our intercessions, our prayers for others, we ask that evil regimes be overthrown, that the poor may be fed and the oppressed be liberated, then our prayer could well be said to have political implications. Someone somewhere will hear this as an imprecation by you to the listeners not to vote Tory!!! So I鈥檇 rather drop this script please see above鈥�Politics comes from the Greek, politikos, meaning 鈥榬elated to the citizens.鈥� So any prayer which requests an enrichment of life for those citizens must be political in some sense, or does that make God into a dispassionate ruler who needs to be persuaded? 聽You can see why the exam question was set.聽One of the most influential figures of Latin American liberation theology, Father Gustavo Gutierrez, wedded politics and theology by arguing that what we do for the sake of justice in the here and now helps bring about the coming of the Kingdom of God. So our earthly decisions do have eternal implications.聽Prayer is part of that process of transformation and so in that sense it鈥檚 always a political act. That鈥檚 how I鈥檇 have answered the question any rate. This morning, then, on the eve of the general election, we bring before God all politicians and all who will vote for them. Amen.